Open Data Insight of the Day

Augst is a municipality in the Bezirk Liestal, situated at an altitude of 267 meters above sea level and covering a total surface area of 165 hectares. This places it among the lower-lying and smaller municipalities in the canton, ranking 85th in altitude and 81st in surface area among the 86 municipalities of Baselland. Table 2 summarizes the key features of the municipality, and figure 1 shows its location on the map.

Historically known as Baselaugst to distinguish it from neighboring Kaiseraugst, Augst is located on a gravel terrace along the Ergolz River, which flows into the Rhine. The municipality borders Pratteln to the west and Kaiseraugst to the east, and includes a narrow strip of land along the Rhine featuring the Augst-Wyhlen hydroelectric power plant. A more detailed summary is available on its Wikipedia page.

As of 2024, Augst has a population of 1,106 residents, ranking it 49th in the canton by population size. The population consists of 71.2% Swiss citizens and 28.8% foreigners, placing it 14th in the canton for the proportion of foreign residents. The age distribution shows 14.5% of the population is under 18, 60.2% is of working age (18-65), and 25.3% is over 65. There are slightly more men than women, with 593 men and 513 women. Table 2 shows the population by age groups since 2005.

Regarding land use, Augst's 165 hectares are divided into 41.4% settlement area, 33.3% agricultural land, 8.0% forest, and 17.3% unproductive surface.

In terms of finances, Augst ranks 46th in the canton for total tax revenue. The municipal tax multiplier and its corresponding rank among the 86 municipalities are not provided in the data.

For energy consumption in 2022, the main energy carriers were heating oil at 6,980 MWh, natural gas at 5,439 MWh, and electricity at 5,172 MWh. Wood contributed 1,430 MWh, while environmental heat and thermal solar energy provided 383 MWh and 97 MWh respectively. Electricity consumption per capita was 4.8 MWh, ranking Augst 18th highest in the canton. This middle ranking suggests a balanced mix of residential and possibly some industrial activity, as very high or low per capita consumption often indicates significant industrial presence or absence.

The vehicle stock in 2026 included 745 passenger and light utility vehicles. Of these, 641 were powered by petrol, diesel, or other combustion engines, while 104 were electric vehicles, representing an electric vehicle share of 14%. This data is detailed in table 3.

For waste recycling in 2024, Augst shows varied performance across categories. The municipality ranks 10th in the canton for household and bulky waste per capita at 163 kg. It also ranks well for plastics and for tinplate and aluminum, both at 2 kg per capita and ranks 17th and 16th respectively. However, it ranks lower for glass at 19 kg per capita (55th), green waste at 51 kg per capita (69th), and paper and cardboard at 14 kg per capita (64th). With two categories in the top 10 and others in the middle to lower ranks, Augst demonstrates strong performance in specific recycling streams. Table 4 provides total recycled waste, recycled waste per capita, and canton-wide comparison values.